A Brief Chat with Miles Batty

Jan 25, 2012

By Jon GugalaPhotos courtesy of BYUMiles Batty, the 24-year-old senior miler at Brigham Young University, didn’t go sub-4:00 in the distance until last year. But when he did, he did it by a lot. At the Flotrack Husky Classic, hosted by the University of Washington, Batty found the

panacea to his pacing woes, tucking in behind Oregon TC’s Chris Solinsky and being led to a school record 3:55.79. His time stands as the fastest sub-4:00 debut in U.S. history. Building on that momentum, Batty would go on to win the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships mile (a tactical 3:59.49 over University of Tulsa’s Chris O’Hare), contribute a 3:56.14 1600-meter anchor leg to help the Cougars win their first Distance Medley Relay title since 1978, and set a 3:36.25 1500-meter outdoor best at Mt. SAC, which is the standing BYU school record.After a strong 2011 cross country season (Batty was 14th at the 2011 NCAA Championships), Batty has announced he’s looking to break the indoor collegiate record in the men’s mile (3:55.02, set by Oklahoma State’s German Fernandez in 2009) at the 105th Millrose Games on February 11 at The Armory in New York City.About a year ago, after two ill-paced races, you got into the right race and broke four minutes in the mile for the first time. On your anniversary, what are your reflections on that day?Miles Batty: You know, I think it gives me a lot of confidence, knowing where I was last year, and what happened last year, and then knowing where I am right now. By this time last year, I had a pretty significant Achilles injury. I could run my finger over this huge lump. So it was very painful, and I was having a really hard time training through that, but I knew that if I took any time off, it was going to be the end of my season. I definitely had to back off on the volume and give it what I had. I feel a lot better this year, so it gives me a lot of confidence, looking back on what I accomplished a year ago, and while I also look toward the future.You’ve announced your intention for the collegiate mile record in February. The first obvious question is, do you feel you can get it?MB: You know, I think the biggest thing about a record like that is you definitely have to respect it. That’s a very fast time, and there’s a reason that it’s a collegiate record. Obviously it’s the fastest that a collegiate’s ever gone. But at the same time, I feel like it’s something I can’t psych myself out about. It used to be the four-minute mile: it became a barrier in athletes’ minds. So I try not to do that and just let myself be cautiously confident—confident in myself and the training I’m doing. With that in mind, I feel confident I can improve on what I did last year, basically, and last year I went 3:55.79. I know it will be more difficult doing that on a 200m track, so that’s something that I’m definitely keeping in mind, but I feel confident in my training, and the biggest thing for me as I think about the race at Millrose is going to be the pacing of the race, how it goes out, and I think that’s going to make a huge difference.What has your training consisted of since the end of cross country?MB: I took a bit of a break after cross country, pretty much a week of no running, and then probably three weeks of just getting back into it. I had finals during that time, so that probably interfered with my mileage a little bit, but just getting some steady tempo work and mileage in. Over the break I wasn’t able to get my mileage quite as high as I wanted, but I was getting about 70 miles a week, with some tempo runs during that time. And then the last two weeks, really, I’d say is where most of that confidence is come in my training as I’ve gotten back with that team. It’s just really nice to be back working with teammates, working with coach Eyestone. I’ve been hitting about 80 miles a week the last three weeks, and then just some good, good tempo runs. We have a five-mile tempo run we do, and I’ve been really surprised. I ended up doing it faster than I did any time this season for cross country. And then we even, earlier this week, did some 1000-meter repeats on the grass, which is typically a cross country workout, but I think coach Eyestone wanted us to get some extra strength. We’re not really doing much speed yet, but he wants us to get a little bit of that. And we had a great workout overall as a team. I think the team is just doing great, so that’s helping me to run faster times, just having teammates with me as well.BYU Distance Coach Ed Eyestone was a two-time Olympian (’88 and ’92, marathon), as was Administrative Assistant Doug Padilla (’84 and ’88, 5000m). What is like to be training under guys that bring that legacy with them?MB: It’s great to be able to be surrounded by this tradition. I think that’s great to just have that tradition associated with BYU. We have our record board, where there’s top-ten times on there, and just looking at the names, I think it gives me confidence, knowing that it’s been done before by athletes in my same situation, that went to BYU, that most of them also took two years off to serve missions (Batty served a two-year LDS mission in Brazil from 2006-2008. For more info, read: http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=22288), and being surrounded by that, it really helps give me confidence. And then just the experience they have is just great as well, especially with coach Eyestone. It gives me a lot of confidence in what he has us do, just because I know it’s been tested before, and it’s had a lot of success. Coach Eyestone, oftentimes it’s easy to forget how good he was, because he never dwells on it, or never tries to act like he was something great. He’s just one of the guys, one of our friends, and I think that really helps with the coaching situation as well.Blunt question: do you believe you can win indoors this year and defend your NCAA title?MB: Yeah, I believe I can. I’m not going to make any statements that I will, but I don’t think anyone’s going to win unless they believe they can. And I’m sure there are a number of athletes in the country that believe they can win Nationals right now. And I think they’re right. There are probably a number of us that can win it; it’s just going to come down to who will win it. I’m just trying to be, like I said, cautiously confident, aware of my competitors, but also having confidence in myself and in the training that I’ve had.Well, let me ask you about one of your competitors. O’Hare has also said he’s going after the record at the Millrose mile. What are your thoughts on him and your other competitors as you go into track season this year?MB: Chris, I’ve had a few opportunities to talk with him since last year, and he’s a great guy. I really enjoyed running with him in a few different races, and I think we’re both very similar runners: we both enjoy a fast pace in a race all the way through. I don’t think either of us is too much of a fan of a very slow first half and then kicking the second half. It’s always nice getting in a race knowing that we’re pretty similar in that regard, and yeah, (I’m) definitely keeping him in mind. I know that he ran a very fast time last year as well, just less than a second off of what I ran, and I think he’s going to be very tough, along with a few of the others guys who will be in the race.Last week the Bring Back the Mile Campaign launched (link: http://bringbackthemile.com/welcome). Have you heard about it?MB: I barely heard of it. I don’t know too much about it. I think I watched a little minute clip that they had. I’m not quite sure of all the stuff they’re going for.In past interviews, you’ve said a lot of the same things they’re saying: how important the distance is as far as being able to relate to it. What are your thoughts on expanding the mile to a broader platform, and the importance of going sub-4:00 for you?MB: One thing that’s very unique about the mile in track and field is that it’s an event that everyone can relate with. Everyone’s run a mile, and almost everyone knows what are considered “elite” times for a mile. And even now, I talk with

friends, and they want to know what my mile time is. I can tell them my 1500, which is even considered a faster time, but really, it’s all about the mile to most people. So I think it really helps with the popularity of track and field, having an event that people can relate with. And then, the mile just has an added level of tradition with it, knowing the history that’s there with the 4:00 barrier, and the times that have been set. I think it’s one of the most popular events on the track just because of that. Ever since we’ve all been in elementary school or middle school, we’ve all been running a mile. Even though you’ve never trained for it, you run a mile, and you see how fast you can do it. So it’s kind of a test of your endurance for most people.Originally when coach Eyestone began coaching you, he thought you were going to be a 5000-meter guy because you didn’t have the speed. I think you’ve both been surprised by that, but have you considered the 5k at all? Can we expect to see you run that this season?MB: Yeah, as I was talking to Coach Eyestone about this season, it’s something I wanted to do, and I was actually going to do it last year, but because of the Achilles problems I was having, I just didn’t have the base for it. I wasn’t getting the mileage. Right now that’s one of my plans, is after the Indoor Nationals (March 9-10, Boise), I’d like to take several weeks and rebuild a strong base as part of training for a 5k, and after I run the 5k is when I’ll start sharpening up a bit more for the 1500m. I think it will be a good strategy for me to hit the “reset” button. Building a strong base is something that’s going to carry my through the Olympic Trials and through the summer.Last question: In interviews last year, you just wanted to do four years at BYU and move on. This is now your fifth year. Does that mean you’re considering running post-collegiately?MB: I mentioned before that I’ve always just planned on running the four years and going to medical school after that. That’s something I’ve been planning before I even was planning on running collegiately, was just going to medical school. And that’s still in the plans. One of my ultimate goals in life was to go to medical school and become a doctor. But I have become aware that I have other opportunities that will be there for me as soon as a graduate with running. So right now, the plan for me is to try running professionally for at least a little while, a year or two, to see what can come of it. The ultimate goal will still be medical school, but I’m putting that on hold until I feel like I’ve reached my potential. I don’t feel like I could just give something up while I still feel like I’m getting better at it. I plan on running until I feel like I’ve reached my potential. That’s when I’ll probably move on: when I feel like I’ve done what I feel capable of.Was it this past season that really got you thinking about that?MB: What started to change my mind was when I started thinking of running professionally as an actual profession, and not just a hobby. I think you have to be at a certain level before you can actually do something with it, and I didn’t want to stick in the sport if I felt like I wasn’t really at a level that I think you should be at to be trying to compete professionally. But once I realized that I was starting to hit that level—mostly the 3:36 (for 1500) —I think it kind of hit me that, hey, I think I’m going to have some other opportunities after college. That’s when I started to rethink things, and just talk with coach Eyestone about what he felt was possible. I don’t think it was ever I didn’t want to run professionally after; I don’t know if I ever really thought I could. So now, I definitely realize that as a more realistic possibility, and I’ve gotten really excited about it.

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